The Busan International Film Festival starts on Tuesday. If you're in Korea this week (or you can get yourself on a train), you might be wondering whether a total beginner can just show up. Short answer: yes. Longer answer: yes, but buying tickets is a bit of a sport.
Here's the basic picture. This is the 31st BIFF, and it runs from October 6 to October 15, 2026. 316 films in all: 247 official selections from 59 countries plus 69 at Community BIFF. Ten days, one city by the sea. The opening ceremony is Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the outdoor theater, hosted by actress Kim Min-ha, and the opening film is The Table: Day and Night by director Kim Jong-kwan. On the 15th it's Yim Si-wan's turn to host the closing night. Squid Game fans, yes, that guy.
Quick facts
- 31st BIFF: October 6 to 15, 2026, 316 films (247 official selections + 69 Community BIFF)
- Main venues: Centum City, Haeundae (Line 2, Centum City Station)
- Regular screening: 10,000 won, up to two tickets per screening code
- Book at biff.kr, online cancellations up to 60 minutes before
- Seoul to Busan by KTX: about two and a half hours
Where everything is
Nearly all of it happens in one neighborhood, Centum City in Haeundae-gu. That's lucky. Big-city film festivals love to scatter screens all over town like they're testing your patience, and Busan mostly doesn't.
The center of gravity is the Busan Cinema Center. Koreans call it Yeonghwaui Jeondang, roughly "the palace of film," and it has a cuter nickname too, Dureraum. You can't miss it. There's a giant wavy roof on top called the Big Roof that Guinness lists as the longest cantilever roof in the world, which is the kind of fact architects say slowly while everyone else nods. At night the underside lights up with LEDs and, honestly, it looks great. The outdoor theater under its smaller roof seats around 4,000 people.
Most of the other screens are a short walk away: CGV Centum City, Lotte Cinema Centum City, the KOFIC theater, Sohyang Theater (Woori Bank Hall) and the Busan Community Media Center. Take subway Line 2 to Centum City Station and walk about seven minutes. Or ten, if you pop out of the wrong exit first. Everyone does it once.
There's one outlier. Community BIFF screenings are at Megabox Busan Theater and the Catholic Center (Space 101.1) in Nampo-dong, the old downtown, close to a street called BIFF Square. The street got that name back in 1996, the year of the very first festival, so it's a nice detour if you like a bit of history. It's also a long subway ride from Centum, so don't try to build one day around both.
Coming from Seoul? The KTX takes about two and a half hours. And if you want to see several films a day, sleep near Centum City or Haeundae. Nampo is lovely. It's just far.
Tickets, the slightly stressful part
OK, this is where it gets very Korean-internet. All the regular seats get sold online, at biff.kr (the booking itself happens on ticket.biff.kr). And sales didn't open this week. They opened back in September: the 17th at 2 p.m. for the ceremonies and outdoor screenings, the 21st at 2 p.m. for the rest. If half the country logs on at the same moment, you get handed a queue number and sit there watching it tick down. The festival recommends Chrome, you have to verify a phone number once, and you can buy at most two tickets per screening code. Two. So no grabbing a whole row for the friends you made at the guesthouse.
Prices are pretty friendly. A regular screening is 10,000 won. Actors' House and Master Class events are 15,000, Midnight Passion (the late-night genre stuff) is 20,000, and the opening or closing ceremony is 30,000.
The big titles go fast. Like, minutes. But "sold out" at BIFF is softer than it sounds, because people can cancel online up to 60 minutes before a screening and those seats pop right back up. So refreshing the page on the day really does work sometimes. Not glamorous. Then again, neither is standing in front of a poster for a film you almost saw. During the festival the box offices also sell leftover and returned seats, and the outdoor one at the Cinema Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Two small things from the official page that people tend to miss. Cancel within five days of the screening and there's a fee. And no kids under four. Not even on a parent's lap.
Planning an actual day
Two films a day. Three if the times line up nicely. Four? Sure, on paper. In real life it's a sprint, with the walking and lunch and bathroom lines and that one guy who freezes in the middle of the sidewalk to study the map.
A good mix is one film you really want plus a smaller Asian title that still has seats. And honestly the second one is often the better memory, because nobody back home was talking about it.
Look for "GV" in the schedule. It stands for guest visit, which means the director or actors come out after the screening for a Q&A. Korean cinephiles will pick one screening over another just for the GV. Fair warning, though: English interpretation isn't always provided for Korean films, and a 30-minute Q&A where you only catch "thank you" is a long 30 minutes.
Leave 30 to 40 minutes between screenings at different venues. Yes, they're close. But "close" means finding the right building, the right floor and the right elevator, then figuring out that Screen 4 was somehow behind you the whole time. Eat in between, at the department store food halls or one of the places near the station. And bring a jacket for the outdoor screenings. October nights by the river get chilly faster than you'd think (people my age will tell you this whether you ask or not).
Industry folks have the Asian Contents & Film Market from October 10 to 13. For everyone else, Gwangalli or Haeundae beach after the last film is the move. Sea air, no booking site.
A red breakwater light off Haeundae, a short ride from the festival screens. Photo: Hoang Trinh / Unsplash
So, is it worth it?
If you like movies even a little, I'd say yes. The mood around Centum City is half the point. People hurry between theaters with tote bags and paper coffee cups and the slightly panicked face of someone who has three minutes to find the right hall, and it's fun just to be in the middle of that.
What I wouldn't do is come expecting to catch every big premiere. That isn't happening for a last-minute visitor, so stay flexible, pick smaller films and keep checking for cancellations. Strike out completely? The plaza, the outdoor events and the Big Roof at night cost nothing. The schedule is on biff.kr, and the BIFF call center number is 1666-9177.
Official info
Schedules, tickets and venues can change, so check before you go (details as of October 6, 2026).
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- Korea's October Long Weekend 2026: What Locals Actually Do
Would you fly to Busan for one film, or does it have to be five?
Top photo: pine trees and open sea on the Busan coast near Haeundae. Photo: Adil Edin / Unsplash
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